70 years ago: Hong Kong's wartime diaries | Gwulo: Old Hong Kong

70 years ago: Hong Kong's wartime diaries

Shows diary entries from seventy-one years ago, using today's date in Hong Kong as the starting point. To see pages from earlier dates (they go back to 1 Dec 1941), choose the date below and click the 'Apply' button.

  • 4 Sep 1943, Chronology of Events Related to Stanley Civilian Internment Camp

    Submitted by brian edgar on Thu, 2012-01-19 21:31
    Book / Document: 
    Chronology of Events Related to Stanley Civilian Internment Camp
    Date(s) of events described: 
    Sat, 4 Sep 1943

    Prince Shimidzu, Vice President of the Japanese Red Cross, and Baron Hiyashi of the Foreign Office visits the Camp. The Prince seems distressed at the overcrowding, and, when he sees a meal, expresses the hope that the Camp will get International Red Cross supplies soon. He asks how many people in Camp are fit; Franklin Gimson tells him there's only one  - a man who was interned in the last few weeks.

     

    Dr. D. J. Valentine, in his capacity as Camp Medical Officer, writes a letter to Sir Atholl MacGregor, the Camp's chief legal authority, concerning the requested post mortem examination of Sir Vandeleur Grayburn, who had died on August 21:

    (A)fter a preliminary survey, the Medical Officers detailed for the task came to the conclusion that decomposition having set in to such an extent a post-mortem examination would not assist rhem in reaching a definite decision as to the cause of death.

    Sources:

    Shimdzu: John Stericker, Captive Colony, 1945, Chapter X, 4

    Grayburn: Documents Relating to Proceedings in the Stanley Internmet Camp, HKRS163 1-303

    :

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  • 4 Sep 1943, R. E. Jones Wartime diary

    Submitted by Admin on Sun, 2013-08-25 21:57
    Book / Document: 
    R. E. Jones Wartime diary
    Date(s) of events described: 
    Sat, 4 Sep 1943

    Wind strengthened with rain.

    Gave G birthday present & painted trunk.

    Saw Mary pm. G there too. Steve at concert.

    Block meeting, didn’t attend.

    4Pkts cigs issued.

  • 4 - 5 Sep 1943, Tom Hutchinson's Wartime Diary

    Submitted by barbaramerchant on Sat, 2013-09-14 16:35
    Book / Document: 
    Tom Hutchinson's Wartime Diary
    Date(s) of events described: 
    Sat, 4 Sep 1943 to Sun, 5 Sep 1943

    Tom Hutchinson's War Diary - Page 13

    Notes:

    5/9/43 - Chicks weighed: Buffalo, Peanut, Brownwings, Cowboy, Camellia, Bullneck, Mangy, Fawn, Big Wings

    ((Chicks weighed again on 12/9/43 but Peanut and Brownwings are no longer listed))

    Supporting information:

    Tags: 
    food
    Hong Kong
    Mongkok
    second world war
    civilians
    survival
    family

  • 04 Sep 1943, Eric MacNider's wartime diary

    Submitted by Grace on Wed, 2014-11-05 13:53
    Book / Document: 
    Eric MacNider's wartime diary
    Date(s) of events described: 
    Sat, 4 Sep 1943

    Classical concert ((see 3rd for details))

  • 04 Sept 1943, WW2 Air Raids over Hong Kong & South China

    Submitted by ssuni86 on Sun, 2019-01-27 00:03
    Book / Document: 
    WW2 Air Raids over Hong Kong & South China
    Date(s) of events described: 
    Sat, 4 Sep 1943

    OBJECTIVE: Bomb Tien Ho airbase in Canton

    TIME OVER TARGET: ~1:00 p.m.

    AMERICAN UNITS AND AIRCRAFT: Ten B-25s from the 11th Bomb Squadron (341st Medium Bomb Group) escorted by seven P-40s from the 74th Fighter Squadron (23rd Fighter Group).  All aircraft are from the 14th Air Force.

    AMERICAN PILOTS AND AIRCREW:

    • P-40s: Unknown, but includes at least one Chinese pilot attached to the 74th Fighter Squadron
    • B-25 #09: 2nd Lt. Carl J. LaValle; 2nd Lt. Richard L. Edwards; 2nd Lt. Wayne J. Aberle; Staff Sgt. Robert A. Petrucelli; Staff Sgt. Lambert B. Rebstack
    • B-25 #36: 1st Lt. James C. Rautt; 2nd Lt. Richard R. Rouse; Staff Sgt. Edward M. Cooning; Staff Sgt. Henry M. Ellis; Staff Sgt. William V. Vickery
    • B-25 #39: 2nd Lt. Edward J. Pawlowski; 2nd Lt. John M. Overstreet; 2nd Lt. Seaborn V. Howard; Staff Sgt. Ray T. Hamilton; Staff Sgt. Earl F. Fester
    • B-25 #41: 1st Lt. Charles F. Whiffen; 1st Lt. Edgar N. Gentry; 1st Lt. Charles J. Bethea; 2nd Lt. Robert D. Guma; Tech Sgt. Karl H. May; Staff Sgt. Robert E. Johnson
    • B-25 #46: 1st Lt. Daniel Manley; 2nd Lt. LeRoy J. Fontaine; 2nd Lt. Raymond J. Mazanowski; 1st Lt. Paul J. Diekmann; Tech Sgt. Thomas R. Touchstone; Tech Sgt. Frank E. Osborne
    • B-25 #56: 1st Lt. Clifford T. Schapansky; 2nd Lt. Dow J. Richter; 2nd Lt. Frank H. Gibson; Staff Sgt. Eugene E. Banzhof; Staff Sgt. Michael Barnick
    • B-25 #57: 2nd Lt. Herbert F. Hempe; 1st Lt. Richard C. Battle; 2nd Lt. Ralph Kamhi; Staff Sgt. Carl S. Penka; Staff Sgt. Gale B. Cehill
    • B-25 #61: Captain Joseph L. Skeldon; 2nd Lt. Robert A. Nice; 1st Lt. Glee G. Smyth; 2nd Lt. Clyde H. Wells; Tech Sgt. Joe Edmonson; Staff Sgt. Clair G. Archer; Sgt. Herbert G. Passarine
    • B-25 #68: 2nd Lt. George T. Grottle; 2nd Lt. Donald G. O’Leary; 2nd Lt. Robert B. Fischborn; Staff Sgt. Loren Morris; Staff Sgt. Golden U. Gallup
    • B-25 #88: 1st Lt. William A. Brenner; 2nd Lt. Earle F. Kane; 1st Lt. Charles H. Dearth; Staff Sgt. Charles J. Wilder; Staff Sgt. Walter J. Schexnayder

    ORDNANCE EXPENDED: 84 x 192-pound M-3 fragmentation clusters and 36 x 100-pound demolition bombs

    RESULTS: B-25 crews report 90% of bombs falling in target area, but weather prevents damage assessment

    JAPANESE UNITS, AIRCRAFT, AND PILOTS: An estimated eight to 15 fighters intercept the American formation, most likely from the 85th Sentai. 

    AIRCRAFT LOSSES: Accurate antiaircraft fire damages one B-25, which returns safely to Kweilin.  P-40 pilots claim to shoot down up to four Japanese fighters, though Japanese records do not record any pilots lost over Canton on this date.

    SOURCES: Original mission reports and other documents in the Air Force Historical Research Agency archives at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama. 

    Information compiled by Steven K. Bailey, author of Bold Venture: The American Bombing of Japanese-Occupied Hong Kong, 1942-1945 (Potomac Books/University of Nebraska Press, 2019).

    Tags: 
    Air Raid

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